Development of high-speed scanning acoustic microscopy system: Simplified design and stabilization

Scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM) is a useful tool for nondestructive inspection and provides inner structural information or defects that can adversely affect the product quality. Several SAM systems have been developed for application in various fields. Conventional SAM systems operate with a limited scanning range or long scanning time, which can cause inefficient economic and labor gains. Numerous studies have been conducted to reduce the scanning time, but these are too complicated or consume a large amount of time. In this study, a simple high-speed SAM system that provides high-quality images with high resolution within a short period of time is proposed. The scanning module is based on a single slider-crank and ball-screw mechanism to provide fast movement and low-cost development. When the system is operated at a high speed, the vibrations have a negative effect on the image quality. A stabilization process was applied to obtain high-quality images. Based on stress analysis, the main parts of the scanning module were optimized, and the counterweight was designed by applying simple mathematical modelling. To verify these vibration-reduction solutions, several samples were scanned using the developed high-speed SAM system. The obtained images successfully provided useful internal information and demonstrated the performance of the developed high-speed SAM system. Compared to other conventional SAM systems, the high-speed SAM system reduces the scanning time by approximately 77.2% with an acceptable scanning range, which shows its powerful application potential in various fields.